Page 85 of Brewing Up a Bad Boy

“I said that almost ten years ago. You said that you needed to be alone and not answer to anyone,” he said, remembering that long-ago fight. “You work with two other women and have a loyal customer base. Not the loner dream you said you wanted.”

She rocked back in her chair, wrapping her arms around her waist. “Yeah, so?”

“I’ve changed too. I’m not twenty-four anymore,” he pointed out.

Her mouth opened, but she closed it without uttering a word as George returned with the drinks. “We can talk later. Come by my place.”

“This morning I had the feeling that it was becoming our place.”

“A lot has changed today. You might be chief operations officer of Lancaster-Spencer.”

He shook his head and then put his hands down on the table hard enough to rock it, making beer spill from the pints. “There is no offer. I’m out. I sold my shares to George and Mum as soon as your deal was signed.”

George started to speak, but Alistair didn’t need his brother to come to his defense. Poppy should have known him better. Turning on his heel, he stalked out of the tavern. Everyone sort of cleared a path for him, which was good because he was about to explode.

No one saw him. Not even Poppy, who he had started to believe truly got him.

He saw the Ducati waiting. The open road that would take him far away from his brother, who was never going to understand that there was any job worth pursuing beyond Lancaster-Spencer. And Poppy. Damn, his moon fairy should have believed him when he’d said he wanted a life with her.

They hadn’t hashed out the details, because he’d been too content. Too willing to believe that she would stay because, this time, she’d seen the changes. She knew he was a different man.

“Alistair.”

Poppy watched Alistair leave through the back of the tavern as Liberty and Sera walked in the front door. Her friends saw him leaving and, she guessed, took one look at her face and figured something wasn’t right.

She felt hollow inside.Fucking hell.She hadn’t meant to do it. But she’d cut him deeply, treating him like the man he’d been at the end of their marriage.

Bronte came back to the table, but Poppy couldn’t deal with her or George, who was trying to explain things to her. His voice was a drone of words she couldn’t comprehend. She walked to her friends, both of them wrapping their arms around her. They stood in a huddle, with Poppy breathing deeply and trying not to cry.

“What happened?” Sera’s voice was right next to her ear.

“I hurt him.”

“How?” It was Liberty this time, her hand on Poppy’s back, stroking her shoulder.

“By not seeing him. All this time, I was worried he’d do something to fuck this whole thing up, but it was me. I wanted him so much to still be that bad boy, that man who cared about no one else, that I treated him... I have to go and find him.”

“Okay. We’ll be here,” Sera said.

Poppy nodded, wiping her hands on her cheeks to swipe away the tears. She walked toward the bar and the side exit. She had no idea what she was going to say to Alistair, but she had to find him.

The words didn’t matter. Being with him. Talking about this the way they had on that first night in England. Those were the things that mattered. Could she get back there?

But there was no going back to the woman she’d been on that night; there was only trying to find a path forward.

His words were a mantra in her ears.I’ve changed too. Neither of them were the same people they’d been.

Remembering that was harder than she wanted to admit. Because if she let that last piece of her guard down, the lingering fear that still circled around her heart when she started to feel truly happy with him would disappear. She’d have no protection against being hurt again. Sort of like how she imagined Ali felt now.

Then she found him. He stood leaning against the outside wall of the tavern, his hands on his knees and his head forward.

“Alistair.”

There was so much more she wanted to say to him. But she didn’t want to screw this up.

His head turned, and he straightened up. “Poppy.”

“I’m...I shouldn’t have jumped to conclusions,” she admitted.

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